[Dutchboy88]

"Catholic respect for Mary is dulia/hyperdulia, not latria - the latter of which is reserved for God alone."

Do not try to minimize the amount of idolatry encouraged by the RCC. Marian devotion ought always to be under attack, because no such thing is taught by the Scriptures. Yet, Rome continues to push this kind of demonic veneration even with statues:

"A mysterious 'presence' of the transcendent Prototype seems as it were to be transferred to the sacred image...The devout contemplation of such an image thus appears as a real and concrete path of PURIFICATION of the soul of the believer...because the image itself, blessed by the priest...can in a certain sense, by analogy with the sacraments, ACTUALLY be a channel of divine grace." JPII.

Really? Channeling grace? Does this stuff not sound suspciously like idolatry? If not, someone's eyes are blinded. Wake up folks.

[RobbyS]

He is really talking about the effect of beauty,and a rejection of iconoclasm. You have more in common with the Muslims than with the early Christians, who decorated tomb with religious symbols, most commonly, the image of the Good Shepard. The cult of Mary began in earnst in the 4th century as part of the rejection of Arianism, which like Muslms later, denied the Incarnation. The title of Mother of God, or Theotokos, as the Greeks have it, was given Mary at the Council of Ephesus, in affirmation of the hypostatic union, and the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. In the time of Mohammed, there was a heretical sect in Arabia that taught that Mary was the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, which belief is still among Muslims today. But when they call us idoloters, they are speaking of our belief in the divinity of Jesus.

[karnage]

The word “idolatry” means “worship of idols” - which Catholics do not practice. In Catholic tradition, sacred images are meant to inspire reflection on the nature of the person or event depicted - not to be worshiped in themselves.

It’s a fairly simple concept that Catholics seem to have no trouble grasping.